An update to Google Social Search — Today we're doing a little bit more to bring you all the goodness of Google, plus the opinions of the people you care about. As always, we want to help you find the most relevant answers among the billions of interconnected pages on the web.

Foreign hackers attack Canadian government — An unprecedented cyberattack on the Canadian government, apparently from China, has given foreign hackers access to highly classified federal information and forced at least two key departments off the internet, CBC News has learned.

Sony Exec: We Are Not Abandoning iTunes — Sony has no plans to withdraw Sony Music songs from Apple's iTunes as payback for Apple's decision to block the Sony e-reader app from the App Store. — Sony is launching its own subscription service, Music Unlimited, in the U.S., Australia, and New Zealand today.

Motorola Executive Defends Tablet Price Tag … Motorola mobility chief Sanjay Jha confirmed that the company's new Xoom tablet will go on sale in the U.S. at $800, a higher price tag than current market leader Apple's iPad. — And in what has been described as the worst kept secret in the tech world …

Redbox digital service will go toe-to-toe with Netflix — Redbox is gearing up to challenge Netflix head-on, the kiosk DVD rental company confirmed Wednesday. — At a meeting with analysts, Redbox President Mitch Lowe said his company's forthcoming digital option will be subscription-based …

CHART OF THE DAY: The Death Of The Music Industry — Here is a stunning visualization of the collapse of the music industry from Bain. As you can see, the growth of digital sales is not doing enough to offset the death of the CD. — (Chart via Peter Kafka, who spotted it on Flickr.)

Android Big in Barcelona — System Powers Slew of New Devices; Some Fear Market Duopoly With Apple's iOS — A year after wireless carriers gave Google Inc. a testy reception at their big industry conference in Barcelona, the software company's Android operating system has become the star of the show.

IBM Watson's next adventure: Healthcare with Nuance — IBM has said its Watson computer would be applied beyond Jeopardy and now is making good on that promise. IBM and Nuance Communications have launched a research program to commercialize Watson for the healthcare industry.

Why Google's One Pass Could Be a Ticket to Nowhere — Google has gotten a lot of attention for the launch of One Pass, the all-in-one subscription plan for publishers that the search giant revealed earlier today — primarily because it made for a nice counterpoint to Apple's new in-app subscription system, which launched on Tuesday.

Apple, Cisco, others organize for a tax holiday lobby — FORTUNE — Economists, businessmen, and politicians of every stripe have spent months talking themselves hoarse about how to get the roughly $2 trillion in corporate reserves back into the economy. Get ready to start hearing a lot about that sum's international cousin.

Mac Growth Outpaces Market for 19th Straight Quarter — The Mac has been on a growth tear for a few years now, outperforming the broader PC market in most every sector. Indeed, December 2010 marked the 19th consecutive quarter that it did so. Mac shipments grew 23.5 percent for the month …

Are Silicon Valley's Engineers Underpaid? — Call off the lottery, argues FARHAD MANJOO, and raise the salary bar for all programming talent. — Google's Eric Schmidt must have watched a few late-night infomercials before dashing off a memo to his employees last fall.

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